Small 4 stroke.

Daydream believer

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Looking a various postings on the interweb including this one, leaning towards the Mercury and not the most expensive either , the comments on the Honda interesting.

This cut and pasted from the comments on the above video.
Patrick Hascall

Patrick Hascall

4 months ago (edited)

" I am an outboard repair shop in Hawaii. This is long but worth the read. I have had my hands on every one of these outboards except that amazon weed eater looking thing. I am in high salt environment which is a true test of an outboard's quality. I do not sell outboards; I repair outboards. I am not a dealer pushing a brand. Okay, here we go! Hangkai: absolute junk. They have models that are reversed engineered Yamaha and Tohatsu. Corrode like crazy in salt water. Run nowhere as well as the motors they copied, and failure rate is extreme. Absolutely no warranty. Don't buy that junk. Honda: Weird clutch drive system that eventually burns up. Engages at a certain RPM, and if you go too slow on the RPMs the clutch will slip and slowly wear out. You cannot just put it in gear and idle along as with other motors. Occasional use motor... fine, but not a daily runner. All the bolts and screws are steel and rust like crazy. Steel float bowl on carburetor that 'will' rust away in salt water. Not very powerful and loud. Has 5 year warranty, but seeing most of the problems are rust.. they will not cover corrosion. Suzuki: Nice running motor... when the carburetor is actually working. Very poorly designed carb. Bad propellers that blow hubs constantly. Corrosion issues in salt water. Cheap plastic, easily broken cowlings. Expensive repair parts. Has 5 year warranty. I have no experience with warranty claims with Suzuki. Yamaha: Absolute least favorite of the name brand motors. Quiet, but that is about the only thing good. Fuel system failures constant. Poor carburetors. Cheap, poorly fitting, easy to crack cowlings and flimsy plastic hood latches, cowling never fit perfectly. $100+ venting fuel cap that never vents properly and gets clogged easy and lets water in tank. If a impeller fails and overheats just once, all the pivot bracket plastic bushings and rubber melts and has to be replaced 95% of the time. Very poorly made motor. Outrageous repair part prices. Has 5 year warranty... if you can call it a warranty. They fight you every step of the way in honoring claims. Parsun: Best of Chinese made motors, but that is not saying much. Same issue as above said Hangkai, and other names they stick on these motor's cowlings. Most brands of Chinese motors are all made in the same plant, and then painted different and named different. Parsun are the better fit and finish models from the same factory. Colman same thing. Not made by Parsun so to speak. Just in same plant. All 4-strokes are reversed engineered Yamaha copies. The 2-strokes are reversed Tohatsu. I use Yamaha and Tohatsu parts to repair them. Mind you a ton of repairs. No warranty service. Mercury and Tohatsu: By far the best motors. Best carburetors. Cowlings very sturdy. In this size they are identical in every way. Tohatsu is usually the same price and sometimes more expensive, but where the difference is between the two companies is the parts and warranty. Mercury parts (made by Tohatsu) are 20 to 40 percent more expensive. So if you own a Mercury... buy Tohatsu label parts. Example: Carburetor with Mercury Quicksilver packaging $378. Carburetor Tohatsu packaging $153. Identical carburetors made by the same manufacturer in Japan. Warranty: Tohatsu warranty is 7 years and longest of all makes. No fighting for warranty claims. Mercury is 3 years for small motors (same motor made at same plants). Hope this helps your hunt for and outboard."
I poke fun at my Seagull & sometimes it does play up if I do not keep it correctly. But looked after with good fuel, correct mix. The right plug etc & it just runs & runes. Still going strong
 
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